European Commission to Parliament: Enough of your stupid questions!

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has a deal for Antonio Tajani, his counterpart at the European Parliament.

The Commission will send better replies to written questions by MEPs: on the condition that MEPs send fewer and better questions.

Juncker wrote to Tajani on Monday in a letter obtained by POLITICO, to say the Commission is sick of receiving irrelevant questions from MEPs, among a flow of around 10,000 questions per year (40 per working day).

Juncker wants the top civil servants in each institution — Alexander Italianer (Commission) and Klaus Welle (Parliament) — to sort out a compromise arrangement.

Written questions are an “important democratic scrutiny tool” and the Commission is making “every effort to reply in good time,” with information that is “politically pertinent,” Juncker said.

Then came the stinger: “The success of these efforts depends also on the quality of the questions,” Juncker added.

The issue is not new. In 2015, the Commission succeeded in urging the Parliament to limit the number of questions it sends.

In a report on the general revision of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure by Richard Corbett MEP, adopted last year, new rules limit each MEP to a maximum of 20 questions in any three-month period.

The number of questions has fallen from 13,400 questions in 2013 to around 10,000 a year today.

MEPs submit their questions to the president of the Parliament on a variety of topics, from migration policies to the increase of the price of fertilizers in Europe. Parliamentary questions can be submitted orally during plenary sittings, or in writing with a request for a written answer.

Juncker raised a second issue in his letter to Tajani: the use of “interpellations,” or wider questions, which are asked by a committee, a political group or at least 5 percent of MEPs. The major ones require a parliamentary debate.

“There is a risk of creating a disproportionate administrative burden and impact on the plenary work,” he said in the letter.